Use of old unused motor oil

[diytoolbox]

I have a 5 litre bottle of old unused cheap motor oil in the shed. Would there be any use for it? I was thinking of using it for oiling the garden tools for rust proofing and coating some hardwood boards with the oil. Wondering if it is safe to use the old unused mortar oil for these applications. And would there be any other uses for the oil? Any ideas or info, advice? Thanks.

 

[Argus]

Of course.

But, from a strictly legal point of view in the UK, and speaking about the substance generically, used oil is considered carcinogenic and therefore Hazardous Waste upon which there is an immense amount of legislation..

Just sayin'........

 

[Peter Sefton]

You could mix some 50-50 with paraffin for use on oil stones, but not on Scary Sharpening as the oil is too thick and the paraffin ears away the adhesive.

Cheers

Peter

 

[Beanwood]

Of course.

But, from a strictly legal point of view in the UK, and speaking about the substance generically, used oil is considered carcinogenic and therefore Hazardous Waste upon which there is an immense amount of legislation..

Just sayin'........

OP Stated clearly several times this is UNUSED motor oil.

Just sayin'

 

[guineafowl21]

Tool handles - sand off that slippery varnish, torch lightly to bring out the grain, and rub in a few coats.

Quenching steel for tempering.

Stick it in your oil can.

‘Rag-in-a-can’ plane sole oiler.

Chainsaw bar oil, or in an emergency, 2-stroke mix for a chainsaw you aren’t too fond of.

Mix at about 40:1 with petrol to make a cleaning solvent for old oily machinery that evaporates to leave a protective coating.

Slightly stronger mix of above to make rudimentary penetrating oil.;

 

[Adam W.]

Could you not use it in your car ?

 

[diytoolbox]

Yeah, it is unused oil, bought and forgotten for about 5-7 years or even longer. Unopened and in the sealed bottle.
No, our car uses synthetic oil, and it never needs oil topped up. It gets changed at the annual service at the garage.

 

[simonmusgrovewethey]

I wouldn't use cheap engine oil in any any of my car's, unless you don't like the vehicle.
If using on tools, moisture will creep under the oil and will eventually rust out the metal. Mixed with road dust to make a paste works better, if you don't mind having to clean off when you need to use them. In the days when cars had oil leaks where the oil paste built up the metal never rusted away.

Wrong type of oil for a chain saw or two stroke, if you use them you'll end up with an expensive repair bill.

Diluted with diesel makes an excellent preserver for wood. The American farmers often took used engine oil diluted down to coat their barns. Sadly the carbon in waste oil does rub off onto anything it touches but unused oil would be good.

 

[D_W]

Tool handles - sand off that slippery varnish, torch lightly to bring out the grain, and rub in a few coats.

Quenching steel for tempering.

Stick it in your oil can.

‘Rag-in-a-can’ plane sole oiler.

Chainsaw bar oil, or in an emergency, 2-stroke mix for a chainsaw you aren’t too fond of.

Mix at about 40:1 with petrol to make a cleaning solvent for old oily machinery that evaporates to leave a protective coating.

Slightly stronger mix of above to make rudimentary penetrating oil.;

It would need to be heated to about 400f for tempering and this would seem like a bad idea (smoke, carcinogenic). It would be too slow for a hardening quench unless used to quench air hardening steel.

 

[D_W]

I'd use it for rust preventive on something where you don't need long term stability or mixed with white spirit in a coarse tri hone.

 

[JohnPW]

Could use it anywhere that needs oiling, eg door hinges, locks, bikes, apart from where a special oil is required.

Also quenching for steel hardening and tempering.

 

[Inspector]

You don't know someone with a lawn mower? If sealed it doesn't go bad so someone can use it in an engine of some kind. I don't use synthetic oil because the truck's engine isn't high performance and doesn't need it. Dealers push it because there is a bigger profit in the mark up.

Pete

 

[sometimewoodworker]

If using on tools, moisture will creep under the oil and will eventually rust out the metal.

Where do you get the idea that moisture can possibly get under an oil film?

 

[Spectric]

Best use for used engine oil is to soak the bottoms of fence post before you put them in the ground, new oil not so good and cheap oil not much use for anything except say a petrol lawnmower if it is the right grade.

 

[johnnyb]

I wouldn't use engine oil on anything I was going to touch and I'm no h and s pedant. it's fairly horrible having all sorts of chemicals added. hydraulic oil is more like a pure oil. ( still horrible though) I know mechanics are smeared in it and they are OK but they don't have a choice.
I do use oilstones and I've got some German scharfeol.from a car boot or Dan's honing oil(this has an old fashioned proper oil smell)or some oil from lidl that smells like cumin( curry mmmmm)in a spray.

 

[johnnyb]

the puma is special import apparently. Dan's is simply a petroleum product. the lidl is not edible btw

 

[Stuart Moffat]

Buy an old British motorbike?

 

[diytoolbox]

I couldn't recall why I had bought the Value Motor Oil at the time. I think it could be as old as 10 year old. The oil bottle has nice Sun face grinning on the label, and says "VALUE Motor Oil". Probably got it from Halfords. At the time I was interested in old cars, and doing them up, so had been collecting all the cheap car tools in the shed.

But my interest has changed into DIY Woodwork and Carvings, and then gardening, and then electronics ... my hobbies had gone through these changes, and the old car projects had been all forgotten.

I was into motor bikes with some strong passion, but that was when I was late teens. At the time I couldn't afford even a push bike never mind motor bike

I hate touching anything chemical sticky and smelly liquid stuff, so motor oil and petroleum stuff had been always handled with gloves on and masks on. But maybe unused old motor oil is not that toxic and health hazard stuff? Will pour it into oil can (which I ordered and on the way to me), and apply onto my rusty garden tools.

My chain saw is electric, so I was sure that it could work with the old motor oil, but I read in the USA lumberjack forum, that motor oil is too thin and not sticky enough for the bar and chains.

 

[Jameshow]

Find someone with a classic car they will bite your hand off for it, and then your ear telling you about thier pride and joy!

Cheers James

 

[guineafowl21]

I read in the USA lumberjack forum, that motor oil is too thin and not sticky enough for the bar and chains.

I’d say that’s technically true, and proper chain oil has the edge when you’re cutting with the whole bar in a big tree, but in practice, clean engine oil works well enough.

I did spy a group of pro loggers clearing a large area of windfall once. Propped up against a stump was a 3-litre bottle of Tesco vegetable oil.

Once thing not to use is sump oil. Nasty stuff to be spraying around, and it rots the oil seals in the saw.